


Reawakening

by SeaSpectre160



Series: Unmade [3]
Category: Kamen Rider - All Media Types, Kamen Rider Drive
Genre: AU - Cyborg!Chase, Alternate Origin Story, Alternate Universe, Angst, Gen, Identity Issues, Otherwise follows canon, So much angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-29
Updated: 2019-02-16
Packaged: 2019-02-23 18:56:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13196454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SeaSpectre160/pseuds/SeaSpectre160
Summary: After his fateful confrontation with Drive, Chase is finally free of the Roidmudes' grip. But where does he go from here?





	1. How Am I Alive?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's this? An update to the 'Unmade' series after a two-year-and-then-some absence? Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I am (somewhat) back. I have not finished writing this, and will not be updating this on any set schedule, so don't hang around expecting anything anytime soon.
> 
> For those who are new to the series, this is an AU where Chase is a cyborg rather than a Roidmude, as that was my theory early on in the series run. So that means that he was human while operating as Proto-Drive, and has a human family that is missing him. There are three fics in this series besides this one: 'The Secret Origin of Machin Chaser', 'Mockery', and 'Prodigal', which is set after Episode 30.
> 
> I typically try to avoid having more than one work in progress at once, and 'The Cold Factor' is still unfinished. But since it's on hiatus, and will be for some time, I'm trying to see how far I can go with this before I can get back to that other fic.
> 
> DISCLAIMER: I don't own Kamen Rider Drive or any of its characters.

_“Have you ever had someone take your brain and play? Pull you out, stuff something else in? You know what it’s like to be unmade?”_

– Clint ‘Hawkeye’ Barton, _‘Marvel’s The Avengers’_

* * *

_Wednesday, April 1 st, 2015_

Rain pounded on the street, soaking the pavement and creating small rivers in the gutters. The few people who had no choice but to go outside huddled under umbrellas and rushed to their destinations, paying little attention to what was going on around them in favour of getting out of the dismal weather as soon as possible.

So the bare few among them walking down a particular road mostly didn’t notice the young man slumped, half-hidden, behind a pillar. His purple leather clothes were torn and burned and bloody, but he did not call out for help when someone did pass by. He just watched, not sure what to do. His mind was clearer than it had been in months, and what he remembered of that time horrified him.

He’d hurt humans. It was strange, how much that bothered him, but it bothered him nonetheless. The lingering memory of the voice telling him to protect humans… it was important to him. Whether he understood it or not, it was important, and he’d failed at it.

He remembered the mental mantra: Obey Medic. Serve Medic. Do whatever she asks. His own choices and beliefs, whatever they were, had suddenly meant nothing to him. Why had that change happened? Why had his thoughts, his very desires, suddenly altered?

Medic. She’d done something to him, to his mind. She’d reached in and changed his priorities, his desires, to suit her needs.

Was he really so changeable? So easily molded? Had that even been him? He remembered it, though. He remembered the chaos and fear that he’d caused to draw out and kill the humans’ protector. Wasn’t _he_ supposed to be their protector?

Another set of footsteps approached. These were not as hurried, the walker too lost in her thoughts and emotions.

He recognised her face. A fuzzy memory of another rainy night resurfaced, of her looking up at him in awe and gratitude. Her voice, crying: “You’re the Kamen Rider who saved my life!”

Kamen Rider. He was a Kamen Rider. Or he had been, once. A Kamen Rider wouldn’t turn his weapon on someone he’d previously saved. He certainly wasn’t worthy of that title anymore. And he _definitely_ didn’t deserve to show his face to _her_.

He tried to move further behind the pillar that supported him, but his injuries pained him. He was no longer healing as quickly as he used to. The gasp of pain somehow caught her attention, even over the sound of the falling rain.

She stared at him for a moment, shock and disbelief forming on her face as she recognised his. He didn’t blame her; he shouldn’t have survived that battle. He shouldn’t be sitting there and staring back at her. “Chase,” she gasped.

Chase. Not Kamen Rider. That person was no longer him. Her saviour from that night no longer existed.

So why was she running towards him, tossing her umbrella away and letting the rain soak her as she knelt by his side? “You’re alive,” she whispered, “Thank goodness.” Even with the rain running down her face, he could distinguish the tears falling from her eyes. It wasn’t until he saw the small smile on her lips that he realised that they were tears of joy.

Why? Why was she not angered by his survival, that he still lived after endangering all those lives? He didn’t understand.

The world began to blur around him. He was cold, wet, in pain, and utterly exhausted. The last thing he heard was her voice, the words too muffled to understand, before he succumbed to darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I've said already, I don't know when the next update will be. Each chapter following this will be based on two episodes. This chapter, obviously, is only the end of Episode 22, so Chapter 2 will cover Ep 23/24, Ch 3 will cover Ep 25/26, etc., and there will be 5 chapters in total. Chapter 2 is close to finished, and a bit on the short side due to Chase spending most of those episodes out of the action. But please bear with me, as I do wish to get this finished.


	2. Why Do You Care?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alrighty, here’s Chapter 2! Sorry for the wait; I actually meant to get this up yesterday, but it completely slipped my mind.
> 
> The next chapter won’t be up for a while, however. As of posting Chapter 1, I now have two incomplete fics sitting on my profile: this and ‘The Cold Factor’, which is a ‘DC’s Legends of Tomorrow’ fanfic. I now have three chapters left to write in each, and I will be alternating between the two. And the chapters in ‘The Cold Factor’ are LONG. As in, 10 thousand words long – minimum! So it will take a while to get the next chapter of that ready to post, and then I will start Chapter 3 of this fic.
> 
> DISCLAIMER: I don’t own Kamen Rider Drive.

_Saturday, April 4 th, 2015_

“How is he, Doctor?” It was that voice that he woke up to. Almost automatically, his mind snapped to assessing his surroundings. He was lying on something soft, a bed, with a blanket covering him from the chest down. There was a second person walking around it and talking; a female, judging by the sound of her voice. There was a slight echo to her footsteps, so they had to be in some kind of room or other shelter. This, coupled with the bed he was in and the fact that she was apparently addressing a doctor suggested that it was a hospital room. But it was too quiet. Where was the sound of nurses and doctors and patients and machines?

He opened his eyes, blinking to adjust to the darkness. He was inside a plain, bare room with a single window that let in just enough moonlight to illuminate the space. A woman with long, dark hair stood next to his bed on his left side, her back to him as she placed flowers in a vase. She appeared to be the only other person in the room, so who had she been talking to? Where was the doctor?

It suddenly occurred to him that his pain had lessen. He distinctly recalled being seriously hurt, but now he was feeling much better. It still hurt, but not nearly as much. Somehow he knew, even if he couldn’t remember how, that this was the ache of healing wounds, not fresh ones. How long had he been unconscious? Who had treated his injuries?

Though still exhausted, he lifted his arm and reached for the one person he could possibly get answers from. She jumped in surprise when he touched her arm, not having realised that he was awake.

He should have recognised her voice, at least, but somehow it wasn’t until she turned around and he saw her face that he realised who she was. It was the Kamen Rider’s friend, the one who had been kneeling beside him as he’d slipped into unconsciousness.

“Are you… the one that brought me here?”

He didn’t know why that was his first question. He’d meant to ask where he was, but after another second’s thought, he decided that it wasn’t the important thing to know right now. What was far more important was _why_.

“I am,” she confirmed, answering his spoken question, “I found you lying out there in the rain. You were barely alive, and I couldn’t just leave you there.”

“Why?” he breathed, asking the question that had been plaguing him since she’d approached him in the rain, “Why would you want to help me, after what I did?”

She smiled sadly. “Because you saved my life last year. How could I be ungrateful and just leave you when you needed my help?”

He looked away, unable to make eye contact. “That was in a past life. Everything I’ve done since then… you trusted me, and I betrayed that. I tried to kill you. You should hate me.”

They all should hate him. He’d betrayed all of humanity by aligning himself with the Roidmudes. The Roidmudes would never take him back. If three attempts to make his will completely theirs didn’t take, they had no use for him. He’d been with them long enough to know this.

But instead, this woman just gave him a sad look and rested her hand on his arm. Her eyes glinted with sorrow and… what was that? It wasn’t pity. No, it was compassion. Something he hadn’t experienced in a long time, he felt. Longer than his memory could recall.

“I couldn’t hate you for those things,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper, “It wasn’t really you doing them.”

He frowned, not understanding.

Before she could elaborate, however, her cell phone rang. She hurriedly dug it out of her pocket and answered, not taking her other hand off his arm. “Shijima here. … Yes. … Understood. I’ll be right there.” She hung up, and looked down at him apologetically. “I’m sorry. I need to go.”

Of course. The Roidmudes were still out there, and she needed to help Drive destroy them. He started to sit up, figuring he shouldn’t impose on her any longer. Even if he had nowhere to go.

But she gently pushed him back down, and it was a testament to his exhaustion that she did it so easily. He was supposed to be stronger than her and every other human. “Stay. You haven’t fully recovered, yet. Rest, please. I’ll be back soon.” And she left, though not before glancing back at him once more.

* * *

_Monday, April 6 th, 2015_

The hours ticked by. He spent them staring at the ceiling until he’d drifted off out of exhaustion. He awoke sometime later from a nightmare of blood dripping from his hands as faceless victims begged for his help even as he killed them.

What on Earth had she meant when she said that it wasn’t really him doing those things? He remembered it all, everything he’d done with his own two hands.

He didn’t know how much time passed; he kept drifting in and out of consciousness, and at one point he woke while sun was streaming in through the windows. But when he was finally strong enough, when his pain had dulled down to a mere ache, it was nighttime again.

Despite the tiredness he still felt, he sat up and slowly climbed out of bed. His Brake Gunner was lying on top of his folded (if still torn and bloody) jacket on the table to his left, next to the vase of flowers, and his boots were also by the bed on the same side.

He didn’t understand her. He’d tried to kill her friend and her brother – multiple times. He’d kidnapped her to try and use her as a hostage. He’d tried to kill her. How could he possibly have kept her loyalty?

However it happened, it was a mistake. Staying around him was just going to put her in danger – even more danger than what she was already facing as one of Drive’s friends. He had to leave this place before she came back.

His fingers were clumsy as he laced his boots back up, but he got the job done and slipped the jacket on. He didn’t feel dizzy when he stood up, which was a good sign.

As he started to walk away from the bed, though, his eyes couldn’t help but be drawn to the flowers on the table. He didn’t know what possessed him to take them, but he did. The small bouquet was clenched tightly in his hand as he left the building – an empty warehouse, with the vacant office space being used as his room.

He didn’t know where he was supposed to go. He only knew that it wasn’t safe for him to be around others. It was only going to get them hurt. He’d already hurt enough people already; the least he could do was try to avoid doing any more damage.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so this one is also short, but that’s because Chase spends pretty much all of Episode 23 unconscious, and is only in two scenes at the beginning and end of Episode 24. The next chapters will, of course, be longer as he gets more involved with events.


	3. What Do You Want?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, remember when I said that each chapter will cover the events of two episodes? Yeah, that’s not happening after all. It’s been a real pain, trying to find a site that will just stream the episodes, doesn’t require me to create an account, doesn’t require me to download anything (I generally don’t trust those sites as a rule), and won’t fill my devices up with viruses. I started posting this fic because I thought I’d finally found one, but now I’ve been having troubles with it, too – nothing virus-y wrong, it’s just really slow, and the videos themselves have gotten a bit glitchy. Just getting this much done was a pain and a half. So I’m increasing the number of chapters and having each one cover just one episode, in order to get faster update times.
> 
> DISCLAIMER: I do not own ‘Kamen Rider Drive’ or any of its characters. That claim goes to Toei.

After leaving his temporary shelter, he found himself at a loss for where to go. Away from people, he decided, and someplace where the Roidmudes wouldn’t find him. It was unlikely that that were looking for him – they probably believed him to be dead – but he didn’t want to risk a chance encounter with one of them. He didn’t know if they would leave him be, declaring him useless, or kill him.

He didn’t even know which option scared him more.

So he figured the best place to go would be outside the city, away from humans and Roidmudes alike. He found a forest cave just on the outskirts of the city that he could use for shelter, but then he had to deal with another problem: food.

He had no knowledge of what he might find in the woods that might actually be edible, or whether the water in the nearby river was safe to drink. He couldn’t remember anything about his life as a human, but it was safe to assume that he’d been… what was the term? A city boy. Someone who had no clue what to do outside an urban environment.

This left him with very few options. There was a strong part of him that considered just sitting and waiting to die, but the thought of a slow death by starvation terrified him. And it would be slower for him than for humans, since whatever Brain had done to him meant that he didn’t have to eat as often as they did.

So after three days, he gave in to his hunger and went back into the city. He had no money, no legitimate means to buy any food. So that left stealing it, or possibly begging for it. He stayed in the shadier parts of the city, snagging a coat when it became obvious that his torn and bloody leather outfit was only drawing unwanted attention to him.

His first trip was mostly uneventful, but on his second one, four days later, he came across a rather disturbing spectacle…

* * *

_Monday, April 13 th, 2015_

He was only two blocks away when he noticed it. He could tell that there was a Density Shift occurring nearby, but not closely enough for the people around him to be affected.

It was a bad idea. A Density Shift meant Roidmudes. He needed to avoid Roidmudes at all cost.

But he could hear screaming. And there was a part of him, deep down, that still wanted to help people. So without putting much thought to it, he ran towards the screams.

When his brain caught up to what he was doing, he decided to veer into the nearest alley, climb the first fire escape he could find, and check the situation out from the rooftops.

He saw a Bat-Type Roidmude standing over a man in a prison jumpsuit, with several police officers nearby, many of them on the ground. He saw the Roidmude hand a red Viral Core to the man, who, suddenly freed from the effects of the Density Shift, fell backwards. He couldn’t quite hear what they were saying, but then the prisoner stood up and yelled: “I’ll accept your offer!”

The prisoner held the Viral Core up to his face, and then the Roidemude’s eyes glowed red. As the terrified policemen – and the stunned observer above – watched, the Roidmude and the prisoner fused into one entity, a red Evolved Roidmude with wicked-looking blades on his arms. The officers screamed in fear at the sight.

The new Roidmude-human-thing turned to a nearby statue – some kind of modern art – and sliced right through the stone with the blade on one of its arms. Then it turned towards the policemen still trapped in the Density Shift. “Time to carve up some pigs!” it shouted.

He froze, torn. If he were to jump down there and protect the policemen, his survival would undoubtedly become known. Even if he killed the Roidmude (Was it still part human?), he was certain the humans might recognise him as the Roidmude who went on a very dangerous, very _public_ rampage not too long ago.

But he couldn’t stand there and watch them die…

Thankfully, his dilemma was solved when both Kamen Riders, Drive and Mach, showed up on the scene. They fought the Roidmude, striking a hit that shut down the Density Shift, and then _she_ appeared on the scene. The woman who’d saved his life… Kiriko.

The human/Roidmude launched a barrage of energy blades that forced the Riders to focus on defending the cops, then it escaped.

The police officers soon started swarming the Kamen Riders, loudly thanking them for coming to the rescue and just fawning over the fact that they were real at all.

But the one watching was far more concerned with what he’d just witnessed. A human outright fusing with a Roidmude…

“That Roidmude’s evolution… It couldn’t be.”

But there were only two Roidmudes who could possibly pull that off. Maybe three. And the one down there hadn’t been one of them.

* * *

He retreated back to the forest without even getting anything to eat. If 001 was getting involved, he needed to keep away for the time being.

However, he was almost at the cave he’d found for shelter when he realised that keeping away wasn’t working out nearly as well as he’d hoped. He heard a whirring sound coming from behind him, and knew instinctively what it was: a Shift Car, coming towards him on its little floating tracks. He twisted around, his Brake Gunner ready to fire, but he didn’t shoot. He just _knew_ that the miniature police car didn’t mean him any harm. The Shift Car circled around him once before dropping straight into-

Into the hand of Kiriko, who was standing right behind him, several feet away. “Thank you, Hunter,” she said to the Shift Car, before addressing him: “How are you, Chase?”

He swallowed. “Why did you follow me?”

She smiled. “I was worried. You were hurt, and you left with no warning. Have your wounds been healing alright?”

He wasn’t sure what to say to that, so he simply nodded. They had stopped hurting a while ago, and he didn’t even have a scar. His healing abilities were no longer as quick as they used to be, and he wasn’t sure why, but they were still well above normal human levels. “What do you want?”

She sighed. “I need your help. I saw you earlier today, when that Roidmude attacked.”

“The one that fused with a human,” he confirmed, “I saw the whole thing. He used a red viral core. I haven’t seen anything like it before.” He shook his head. “I don’t know how to fight it. And I can’t go back out there. If the Roidmudes find out that I’m alive, they’ll hunt me down. And it’s not like the humans will welcome me back.”

“I would.”

Her statement came so quickly, and it was obvious that she meant it one hundred percent. It threw him off-balance. “Why?” he asked harshly, “Less than two weeks ago, I nearly killed a bunch of people… so many people. I’m a danger to all the humans around me, and I _won’t_ go back to the Roidmudes!”

“Chase, I-”

“You should just leave me ALONE!”

A startled shout caught both their attention, drawing their eyes to the short, bespectacled man stumbling over a root of the tree he’d apparently been hiding behind. “Kyū-chan?!” Kiriko gasped.

The man, ‘Kyū-chan’, staggered up to his feet, staring at the two of them. No doubt he recognised the man… the Roidmude… the _monster_ who attacked innocent civilians just weeks ago.

Kiriko stood in between them. “It’s okay,” she told her friend, “He wasn’t in control himself before, but he won’t hurt anyone now! The Roidmudes can’t control him anymore. I promise, we’re safe with him.”

Her declaration didn’t clear up _any_ of his confusion.

But the other man took it all in stride. “I believe you. I already know that not all Roidmudes are evil.”

She smiled back. “He’s not even really a Roidmude. Chase is… a special case.” She turned back to face him. “That’s why I’m here, actually. Drive cannot stop this new Roidmude evolution without harming the human inside. We need a sample of Roidmude technology merged with human biology, in order to properly calibrate the Driver.”

Ah. So that was why she’d approached him.

“I’m sorry to ask this of you. But you’re the only-”

“I get it,” he snapped, “You need me because I’m the only other human/Roidmude combination in existence. The only other _freak of nature_ around!”

“I-I’m sorry,” she apologised, reaching out to him instead of backing away like a sane person, “I didn’t mean-”

He jerked away from her and pulled out his Brake Gunner. _That_ got her to back up _real_ quick. But he didn’t shoot at her. He couldn’t. He transformed into his Machin Chaser form, even though it made him feel sick inside to do it. Then he turned his weapon on himself and shot.

The pain was unexpected, but welcome, in a rather twisted way. It was something he felt he deserved, and it also distracted him from the nauseous feeling building up inside him. A piece of his armour landed on the ground, smoking.

He immediately reverted back to his human appearance, unable to stand wearing that armour any longer than he had to. The armour hadn’t been part of his body, but he was pretty sure his abdomen was bruised from the impact of the shot. It might even still be there when he got back to his shelter.

“There’s your sample,” he gasped, “I hope it’s enough.”

With that, he turned and staggered away before she could say anything more than a thank you.

* * *

Sure enough, the bruise was still there when he returned to the cave he now called home. His healing abilities had definitely slowed. He wondered if they would eventually return to normal. Not that it would make much of a difference. He leaned back against the wall, clutching his stomach as it ached, not just from the shot, but from hunger.

Dammit, why couldn’t he just stay out of it all? Why couldn’t they just leave him alone? At the same time, he thought of the Roidmudes’ new evolution and how many innocent – and even not so innocent – humans would get killed if Drive couldn’t take them out safely. So hopefully something good would come out of this encounter.

But would it be the last? He truly didn’t know which answer he preferred.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As for updates, I currently have three incomplete stories posted, so I am trying to rotate between them. The other two aren’t KR stories – ‘The Cold Factor’ is for ‘DC’s Legends of Tomorrow’ and ‘Two For The Price Of One’ is a crossover between that and ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’. So if you like those fandoms, feel free to check those out and follow them if you like what you see.


	4. Who Am I?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  _So_ sorry this took so long. The website that I use to watch the episodes is far from perfect. Sometimes the tab will randomly close and re-open, and the image will freeze up while the audio keeps going – as I can’t speak Japanese, this makes it hard to understand when I can’t see the subtitles I need to see. Also, sometimes I do my writing on my laptop while relaxing and watching TV, so I tend to work on fics – or at least scenes – that don’t rely on watching something else, so there’s only so much I can do for this fic when doing that. After this, I’ll be working on a new chapter of ‘Two For The Price Of One’ and then the final two chapters of ‘The Cold Factor’, but don’t be surprised if I wind up posting more of ‘Two For The Price Of One’ before the next chapter of this comes out, for the reasons listed above.
> 
> As it stands, it has been hard to deliberately shift back and forth between writing for different fandoms. So this will be going on hiatus until ‘The Cold Factor’ and ‘Two For The Price Of One’ are both complete. As for the ‘Unmade’ series, I’m not sure if I’ll be continuing it or not. ‘Reawakening’ will be completed, without a doubt, but I’m not certain about the rest of the series.
> 
> DISCLAIMER: I do not own ‘Kamen Rider Drive’ or any of its characters.

_Tuesday, April 14 th, 2015_

After Kiriko’s visit, he considered moving to a different cave, or out of the area entirely, but he stayed put, for reasons unknown even to him. It would have been smarter to get as far away from that city as quickly as possible.

He hoped that Kiriko would get the message and leave him the hell alone, and that she and the other man wouldn’t tell anyone about his survival. But then again, since when did he ever get what he hoped for? The very next day, he found himself being approached by three Shift Cars. He knew their names, but whether it was from his battles with Drive, or just some trace of his lost memories, he wasn’t sure.

Massive Monster, Dimension Cab, and Dream Vegas

“Did Kiriko send you after me again?” he groaned, standing up, “Tell her to leave me alone.”

He started to walk away, but a new voice stopped him in his tracks. “Kiriko’s not the only one who wants to thank you.”

It was Drive, himself, with Kiriko right next to him and the Drive Driver wrapped around his waist. Certainly not who he was expecting.

“I can’t lie… I was really happy to hear you survived.”

How? Drive was the one who had tried to kill him, and with good reason. Once again, their completely illogical trust in him was both confusing and exasperating.

“Proto-Drive,” the Drive Driver – Krim, he remembered calling it ‘Krim’ – entreated, “We’re all hoping to see you return to action.”

He shook his head. This was all too much. All three of them were begging him to come back, beyond all reason. He turned away from them and started to walk away.

“Wait!” Kiriko called after him, “Where are you going?!”

“I DON’T KNOW!” he yelled, slamming his fist into a tree. Pain lanced through his arm as sharp splinters punctured his skin, but he ignored it. “I wish I did…”

“Chase…” He heard Kiriko moved forward until she was standing right behind him. He actually jumped when he suddenly felt her hand touching his shoulder. He slowly turned his head to look at her. Her wide eyes showed no fear of him whatsoever.

Then, suddenly, a new voice echoed through the air.

“I too am glad you survived.” Everyone looked over in shock as Heart walked up, stopping several feet away. “Now you find yourself at a crossroad, Chase?”

“Heart!” Drive gasped.

Seeing one of his old… captors? Bosses? Handlers? Whatever the hell Heart and Brain had been, seeing one of them standing there sent a shot of panic through him, and he stumbled back a few steps.

Heart raised his hand, showing off a very familiar object in his grasp. “Once this reactivated, I was able to track you down,” he explained.

“That’s Proto-Drive’s Shift Car!” Krim exclaimed.

“My spoils from when we… recruited Chase,” Heart gloated. The so-called ‘recruit’ couldn’t remember much, but he got the distinct feeling that it had been a terrifying experience. “Come home, Chase. The Roiumudes will win this war. Especially now that _he_ has begun to make his move.”

For a moment, he was confused as to what Heart meant. But he remembered the recent development of the human-Roidmude fusion evolution, and the limited number of Roidmudes who could have come up with that. And since he was pretty damn sure that Heart wasn’t referring to Brain or Medic, there was only one possibility…

Krim was clearly thinking the same thing. “Then 001 was the creator of the Hybrid Evolution?”

“001?” Drive questioned, “I thought that was Heart!”

“Heart is 002,” Krim corrected him, “Brain is 003.”

“He seems to prefer pulling the strings from the cover of shadow,” Heart continued, “You may find that you share more of a connection with him than you suspect, Tomari Shinnosuke.”

“My father…” Tomari gasped after a brief pause, “Did he…?” His face hardened, and he took two steps closer. “Tell me everything you know!”

Kiriko’s phone rang, but none of the others besides her seemed to notice.

Heart laughed. “I’ll have to decline. 001 is a mysterious Roidmude who prefers the veil of secrecy.”

To his surprise, Drive actually looked over at him questioningly.

“Nobody knows much about him,” he grudgingly confirmed, “Whatever it is you want to know, I don’t think I could even help you.”

Kiriko, who’d been on her phone, cut in then. “Tomari-san, 007 has reappeared. Kamen Rider is being ordered to mobilise.”

But Drive ignored her, his angry gaze fixed on Heart. “If you won’t talk, then I’ll make you!”

He quickly transformed, and Heart gleefully shifted into his true evolved form. The two of them immediately began to clash in a furious battle. Well, the fury was mainly one-sided, on Drive’s part. He kept attacking Heart in a rage, demanding answers about his father, while Heart just seemed to be having fun. Kiriko shouted at Drive to quit the fight, that he was needed elsewhere, and Krim could be heard shouting the same thing. But Drive ignored them both, and just kept pressing forward.

The battle eventually brought both combatants to the edge of a shallow, slow-moving river, which he’d used for water, sometimes. Kiriko followed behind them, visibly anxious, and he followed behind her.

Both Heart and Drive were throwing their attacks around, tearing up a lot of the surrounding area, and that was where things _really_ went wrong.

One of Heart’s energy attacks went flying at Drive, who dodged without looking behind him. The deadly attack kept flying, straight towards Kiriko.

He charged forward without thinking, activated his Brake Gunner and donned the Machin Chaser armour without thinking, and batted away the energy projectiles without thinking.

It hurt. Even as the glowing energy sphere flew away from him, he felt the pain radiating all the way up his arm. And he welcomed it.

What he did _not_ welcome was the scream of pain that reached his ears. A scream that wasn’t his. It took him a second to realise that when he’d deflected Heart’s attacks away from Kiriko, he’d accidentally sent one hurtling at Drive, instead. The Kamen Rider had lost his transformation, and was lying on the ground, screaming as he clutched his bloody and burned right arm.

He had done that. He had caused that pain. This was his legacy, his curse. He should have run away the second he spotted them all.

Kiriko ran over to her friend, trying to lift him up into a sitting position and gasping when she made him cry out in pain again.

Heart had stopped fighting. Of course he would. Heart loved the thrill of the fight, and there was no thrill in killing someone lying helpless on the ground, especially when you weren’t even the one who put them there. In fact, Heart practically ignored Drive and Kiriko. Instead, his eyes sought out his former subordinate. At first, he smirked, but that expression quickly vanished. “You should not be so ashamed, Chase. Drive is our enemy.”

He could only cancel that hated transformation and shake his head. He wasn’t safe to be around humans, but he would rather die than go back to the Roidmudes.

Heart’s face morphed into one of disappointment and disgust. “I came to take you home, but I’ve changed my mind.”

He finally found the courage to speak. “Good. There’s no ‘our’ between you and me, Heart. No ‘we’. Just leave me the hell alone.”

He stood up shakily, casting one last look at Kiriko and Drive. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, “Please stay away from me.”

And whether they could hear it or not, he turned and staggered back into the woods.

* * *

He ran for a long time before he found a secluded spot to stop and assess his current condition. His hands had received some burns from deflecting Heart’s attack, but they were slowly beginning to heal. There was only a little bit of blood, but it was already becoming uncomfortably sticky.

He heard running water nearby, probably a different section of the same river as before. He cautiously made his way there, and when he confirmed that no one else was there, he crept to the water’s edge to rinse off his hands.

Only to jump back in shock when he caught sight of his reflection.

Staring back at him from the surface of the water was the Reaper, Machin Chaser. He looked down at himself in a panic. No, his armour was gone, and the hands before him were still covered in bloody, burned flesh. He looked in the water again, and the Reaper was still there.

With a yell, he brought his foot down into the water, then again, splashing the image away before stumbling away from the river. He sank to his knees a few feet away, shaking.

He almost killed Drive just then. The humans’ best defense against the Roidmudes had been hurt because of him. He was dangerous. Too dangerous.

The sudden roar of an engine made him jump. He shot to his feet, and was about to bolt, until he realised that he _knew_ the sound of that engine.

A huge mass of purple and silver shot out from between the trees and skidded to a stop several feet away from him.

He stared in shock at his old bike, Ride Chaser, as it parked by itself right in front of him. What was it doing here? He blinked when he realised that it had a bit of extra weight. A stuffed black duffel bag was strapped on top, and a smaller metal case was also fastened between it and the seat. Overwhelmed by confusion and curiosity, he stood on wobbly legs and staggered over to take a look.

His hands were shaking as he opened the case, a situation that did not improve once he saw what was inside. Why on Earth would they send this to him, after he got Drive hurt? How could they ever trust him with the power contained in this very familiar object?

It just didn’t make sense. He’d made it clear again and again that it was too dangerous for him to be around humans, and that his actions against them should not be forgiven, yet these people continued to come up to him and tell him that they forgave him, that they wanted him to come back and continue to fight the Roidmudes with them.

Then he noticed that there was a small envelope on the underside of the case’s lid. He quickly extracted it and the piece of paper folded inside. It was handwritten in a neat, feminine script.

_Chase,_

_I am sorry I didn’t listen to you before. If you don’t want any more contact with us, I won’t come looking for you anymore. This bag has some food, water, money, and a fresh change of clothes. It should be enough to last you about two weeks. Hopefully that will be enough time for you to get yourself set up somewhere._

_Please don’t blame yourself for Tomari-san’s injuries. You were only trying to protect me in a dangerous situation, and I never got around to thanking you. And that situation was not your fault, either. Heart goaded Tomari-san into a fight, and Tomari-san gave in._

_Please don’t blame yourself for what the Roidmudes made you do. You had no real choice in the matter, and the fact that you are going out of your way to prevent it from happening again says more about you than anything you were forced to do. But you are free of their control now. You get to choose what you want to do. And I have faith that whatever you choose to do for your future, it will be something good._

_We won’t force you to come back with us. We will stop asking. But please know that, if you ever change your mind about staying away, you are always welcome with us._

_Kiriko_

His mouth went dry as he read the note. She had faith in him? In _him_? Even after he got her friend hurt? Of course, she did outline her reasoning in her letter.

Turning to the duffel bag, he decided to turn his focus on something he could better understand. As promised in the note, it contained clothing, a canteen, two lunch boxes, and a thick wad of bills on top. With the Ride Chaser, he could go anywhere on the mainland, and start a whole new life.

Or…

He thought about how much the Roidmudes had taken from him. His memories, whatever life he’d had before they’d captured him, his very humanity… And they hurt people on a daily basis. They deserved to be punished, not just for what they’d done to him, but what they did to everyone else.

It was too much of a risk to try and fight alongside Drive again, but he could still fight his own battles, and between the two of them – three, really, with Mach fighting at Drive’s side – they could finish the Roidmudes off that much more quickly. Only one hundred and eight Roidmudes had been created, and Drive had already put a dent in their numbers. Permanently.

He had never been able to destroy Roidmude cores. Every Roidmude he’d destroyed had been so only temporarily, and then they would come back to get revenge on him and continue hurting people. But with this new Driver, built by Drive’s people, he might be able to take them out for good.

After all the damage he caused under their control, he had a responsibility to make up for at least some of it.

* * *

He’d gotten pretty sensitive to Slowdowns, even when he wasn’t in an area caught by one. So when he sensed one starting in the warehouse district as he was getting back into town, he made a sharp turn on his bike and headed in that direction. It didn’t take him long to locate the epicentre and drive into the correct warehouse.

He heard Drive screaming Kiriko’s name as he drove in, and spotted the danger immediately. The Roidmude from yesterday was standing in the middle of the empty space, holding one bladed arm straight up. And above him, apparently having fallen over the rail of a catwalk, was Kiriko. Whatever technology she used to protect her from the Slowdown must have failed in one way or another, because she was falling in slow-motion, along with some water from a broken pipe.

He didn’t hit the brakes until he was almost about to plow into the Roidmude, and even then, he didn’t brake hard enough to stop the bike. Instead, he jumped off and let the machine hit the Roidmude and knock him out of the way. The Slowdown effect ceased on impact, and he got underneath Kiriko just in time to catch her in his arms.

The memory hit him like a ton of bricks; he remembered holding her like this as the rain thundered down around him, tapping against the armour he was wearing at the time. The water raining down from the broken pipe overhead wasn’t quite the same, but it was close enough. She had looked up at him in such gratitude, it had been a shock to realise that she felt safe with him – that she felt safe _because_ of him. And he felt that shock all over again, because she was looking at him that way _now_ , even after everything he did.

Clearly, Kiriko remembered it, too – most likely even better than he did. “This is just like that day in the rain,” she murmured, “You came back.”

He tried to give her a sort of smile, but found himself unable to. “I guess I just couldn’t sit back and do nothing,” he told her, “Are you okay… Kiriko?”

She smiled at his first use of her name. “Yes. Thank you.”

He set her down, and removed the case from his fallen bike. “You don’t have to thank me. I can start over because of you. Because of what you have given me.” He opened the case, revealing the new Driver and the tiny purple Signal Bike.

As her friends exclaimed in surprise, Kiriko explained: “Rinna-san built the Signal Chaser from the armour sample you gave me. So that you could be a Kamen Rider again…”

His hands shook as he placed the Driver around his waist, and held up the Signal Bike. Technically, he could still walk away from this. Could retreat into hiding with the supplies he’d been provided and let the humans and the Roidmudes fight the war that had already taken so much from him (how much, he couldn’t even know with the current absence of his memories).

But Kiriko was looking at him with such _pride_ , so confident that whatever remained of her former hero was coming back into the fold, he couldn’t do that. And, he supposed, there would always be a part of him that would balk at the idea of letting harm come to people when there was something he could do about it.

“ _Henshin_.”

Without stopping to think about it for another second, he slotted the Signal Bike into the Driver and slammed the device shut. The energy wrapping around his body was so familiar, it _hurt_ , even if it filled him with a sense of exhilaration.

 _‘Yes,’_ a part of him seemed to say, _‘I missed this.’_

When the transformation ended, he took a brief second to look down at himself. What he could see of his body was encased in silver armour with purple accents, more streamlined and nowhere near as bulky as his previous armour.

“Kamen Rider… Chaser,” Kiriko declared solemnly.

It felt… good. This wasn’t the armour he’d worn as Kamen Rider Proto-Drive, the human out facing the Roidmude army all but completely on his own. This wasn’t the armour he’d oh so recently worn as Machin Chaser, the Reaper. This was something in between, made by humans from a piece of technology taken from the Roidmudes. Both the armour and the name had a piece of each world in their origins, which fit so well with the man who was no longer fully human, but not truly a Roidmude, either.

Any more thoughts he may have had on the matter were interrupted when the Roidmude burst out from the mess he’d made upon landing, yelling.

“Chase!” Drive shouted, “Do it!” His arm was bandaged, explaining why he hadn’t intervened to save Kiriko – he couldn’t.

So it fell to him.

He ducked the Roidemude’s first swing, blocked the second, and hit him twice in the chest, shoving him back. They repeated that dance several times until they were out of the warehouse completely, and he’d knocked the Roidmude into some concrete structure outside. By then, however, the Roidmude had seemed to recover from the initial beating, and now was fighting a bit better. They more or less stayed in place, rather than the new Kamen Rider shoving the Roidmude back. In fact, he wound up having to duck and dodge a lot, as the Roidmude’s blades nearly missed him and shattered more concrete objects.

At one point, he literally turned his back on the Roidmude on instinct, feeling the impact of the blow but no pain. Something extra on the back of his suit (he’d felt the weight there) was blocking the damage, and actually sent the Roidmude flying back and landing on his ass.

However, this Roidmude was not the type to roll over and give in without a fight. With an enraged roar, his entire body glowed red, and he started swinging his bladed arms, hurling energy blades his way. But even those didn’t do enough damage.

“Chase!” he suddenly heard Kiriko call, “Your new weapon is inside the motorcycle!”

Rather than running and getting it, Kamen Rider Chaser reached out in the bike’s direction – again, on pure instinct – and sure enough, a large, polearm-type weapon came flying out of the warehouse and landed right in his hand.

_‘SIGNAL AXE!’_

It was mostly silver, with some purple accents, but it also included a pair of squares designed to look like a crosswalk signal.

Odd.

He took a few swings at the Roidmude, feeling out the balance of the weapon and how well he’d be able to wield it. It was pretty good; not too heavy to swing around, not so light that it wouldn’t do much damage. After a few more strokes, it was time to get back to business; he dealt a deep blow to the Roidmude’s abdomen, then another one to the chest. As the second wound opened up, he could actually _see_ the dark blue-grey fabric similar to the jumpsuit the Roidmude’s human partner had been wearing yesterday. Acting quickly, he reached in and _yanked_ the man out of the Roidmude’s body. The man landed face-down on the gravel beneath their feet.

Now that that was taken care of, he no longer had any reason to hold back. It was time to see what his new weapon could _really_ do. He removed the Signal Chaser from his Driver and quickly found the appropriate slot on his Signal Axe and inserted it. He also found a red button on the handle, and pressed it.

_“‘HISSATSU!”_

He raised his axe and prepared to strike-

_“WAIT FOR IT!”_

What? “What was that…?” He paused and looked at his weapon, seeing that the ‘Don’t Walk’ light was lit up. What the hell? Was it charging up or something? Who came up with this stuff? Annoyed, he planted the Signal Axe in the ground and turned back to his opponent as it continued to repeat the irritating phrase.

The Roidmude – now back to its basic Bat-type form – tried charging him, but he still had his Brake Gunner on him, so he simply shot the bastard down.

_“GO FOR IT!”_

_Finally_. He picked up the Axe and raised it above his hear.

_“FULL THROTTLE!”_

A holographic image of a crosswalk pattern appeared between him and the Roidmude, and he slashed accordingly, once, then twice.

A huge explosion engulfed the Roidmude, and from it, a silver core – 007 – started to float away, only to explode in mid-air.

He did it.

Holy shit, he did it. He killed a Roidmude.

He looked back at the human who’d partnered with 007, who was still lying facedown on the gravel. Drive and Kiriko were both kneeling next to him, keeping him from getting back up. They were cops, and he wasn’t. “Arrest him. I’ve done all I can do.”

Kiriko looked like she wanted to talk with him, but the enormity of the events of the past several minutes – and the entire day, overall – were finally starting to catch up to him. There would be time to talk to her, later. Right now, he needed some space.

So he walked back to his bike without another word.

“He’s just shy,” he heard Drive telling Kiriko, “We’ll see him again.”

As he rode away, it was hard to describe how he felt. One more Roidmude was no longer in existence, and _he_ had been the one to take it out. For once in his life, he’d contributed to permanently damaging the Roidmudes’ crusade, instead of simply delaying it or actively aiding it.

And it felt _good_. He wasn’t sure if he was relieved, or satisfied, or what, but whatever he was feeling, it was a good feeling.

Maybe he didn’t have a place among human society anymore, but he had a purpose. He _could_ do this, could protect them from the Roidmudes, even if he couldn’t fully make up for his past sins. And it seemed that at least two of the humans, Drive and Kiriko, were willing to support him (three, if he counted the scientist who had made his new gear).

And that wasn’t the only thing he was feeling good about. Before, he wasn’t sure who or what he was, besides something that blurred the line between humans and Roidmudes. Now, he could finally say that he was no longer the Reaper. He was a Kamen Rider once more.

He was Kamen Rider Chaser.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that’s all for now. ‘Reawakening’ is officially on hiatus, but I promise I will come back to it, even if I can’t tell you when, at this point.


End file.
